The Burn Journals
						Runyon, Brent. 2004. THE BURN JOURNALS. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
					“I want to talk and I want to tell him about what I did and that I’m so sorry, but I can’t figure out how to say that…I try to tell him what happened, but it’s so hard to say out loud. I don’t even remember why I did it now…Dad seems like he understands, and he cries and I cry. I’m so sorry, Dad. I’m so sorry” (page 45).
		When Brent Runyon was in eighth grade, he came home from school one day and lit his gasoline-doused self on fire. Sustaining burns that covered over 85% of his body, Brent spent almost a year in hospitals and psychiatric hospitals before going back to school. THE BURN JOURNALS is Runyon’s autobiography starting on the day he tried to commit suicide up until he was able to return to school.      Told in first person, THE BURN JOURNALS is a candid account of Runyon’s thoughts and feelings. Readers are able to “hear” his thoughts about everything, from what he thinks about the movie he is watching to why he attempted suicide. Runyon holds nothing back; the honesty he presents in the novel will allow readers to connect with his character. “From the beginning, readers are immersed in the mind of 14-year-old Brent as he struggles to heal body and mind, his experiences given devastating immediacy in a first-person, present-tense voice that judders from uncensored teenage attitude and poignant anxiety” (Booklist review). The thoughts jump from subject to subject, just as they would in a person’s mind.      Everything is viewed through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Runyon. Therefore, the other characters are only as developed as he sees them to be. For example, while the brother Brent is mentioned fairly often and he makes appearances at the hospital, readers never learn what he is thinking. Whatever Runyon sees, which is Brent being uncomfortable during the counseling sessions, is what the readers see. And because this is a true account, there is no happily-ever-after. Throughout the book, Runyon thinks about the relationship he has with his brother and how he would like it to improve, but we never find out if it does.      For the most part, Runyon is surprisingly optimistic. He enjoys entertaining the staff at the hospital and learns card tricks that he performs for his therapists. However, readers are also privy to the internal conflicts he experiences. “I could’ve just lit a little part of me on fire, like my arm or something, just to see how much it hurt, and if it hurt too much, I could’ve stopped…But I didn’t stop…I wish I’d stopped. But I didn’t” (page 124).      “Some excrutiating moments notwithstanding, this can and should be read by young adults, as much for its literary merit as for its authentic perspecrive on what it means to attempt suicide, and, despite the resulting scars, be unable to remember why” (Booklist review). Mattson, Jennifer. Booklist. Available at http://www.amazon.com                                            YA Literature Home Page